Summer Solstice: your new beginning

June 20, 2016 is an auspicious day: both the Summer Solstice and a Full Moon – it’s the first time these two events have coincided in 70 years!

The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the time to celebrate life in all its aspects.

It’s also the time to call in all the positive things you want in your life, and release what no longer serves you.

The Full Moon also brings in powerful energies for manifestation of what you want.

Solstice means “stand still” and refers to the way the sun appears to rise and set in the same place for a few days. This is also a good day to just relax, rest and stand still [take a break] from the business of life.

At Stonehenge in England, built 5000 years ago, the summer solstice sun at dawn rises over the structure’s Heel Stone and hits the Altar Stone dead center. Surely our ancestors knew something we don’t about the magic of this day.

This is a good time to do a ritual such as a burning bowl ceremony to release the old and bring in the new.

The power of Fire on the Solstice

All ancient cultures consider fire one of the most magical and necessary elements for transformation, purification and prayer.

According to Mara Freeman in Kindling the Celtic Spirit: Ancient Traditions to Illumine Your Life Through the Seasons, our ancestors “lit bonfires to celebrate the sun at the height of its power and implore it not to withdraw into winter’s darkness.”

The fires were built on hilltops and the Old people would count the distant fires and tell the future from the number they saw and the brightness of the blaze.

In the words of author and shamanic teacher Alberto Villoldo, “Every time you light a match to light a candle, you can turn that into a fire ceremony because you are literally creating fire.”

Celebrate the Summer Solstice with a Burning Bowl ceremony

You will need a large bowl with tall sides, candle, matches and a piece of paper.

Set everything up as if you were creating a sacred altar, because you are.

First: a burning bowl ceremony to release the old

• Take three slow deep inhales and exhales to center yourself.
• Think over the past year: all the things that happened, both good and bad. Even the difficult situations taught you a lesson.
• What people, situations, energies didn’t serve you? Ask, “what would be good for me to let go of in my life?” Sit with that question.
• When you’re ready, write it down on a small piece of paper. Fold it, light it with the candle flame and drop it into the bowl as you release it, saying, “I release that which no longer serve me.”
• Take a deep breath and express your gratitude for those hard lessons learned.

Next: A burning bowl ceremony to call in the new:

• Again sitting at your altar, relax, and close your eyes. Take a deep breath and release it three times. Strive to let yourself feel grounded.
• Focus on your heart. Think about what would really make your heart happy in the next year. What would you like to experience that would bring you joy?
• When you experience joy, it goes out to the rest of the world.
• When you follow your passion, you bless the world.
• Call in relationships, work, health, lifestyle – anything you’d like to do, be, have or see. Don’t worry right now about the how. That’s not your job. The how is the Creator’s job. Your part is to express what you want.

It’s like placing an order in a five-star restaurant. You don’t go into the kitchen and look over the chef’s shoulder while he or she cooks and give them instructions. You sit at your table and trust that the perfect meal you ordered will be served to you at your table. Let life work like that for you.

This ceremony is about placing your order.

Again, write what you want to manifest on a piece of paper, light it with the candle flame, and drop it into the bowl. As it burns, the smoke is carrying your request up to the heavens.

Make a note in your journal of what’s on your list and in one year, look at it and see how many have manifested. Put it in a safe place and let the magic begin!

“There is a spiritual giant within you, which is always struggling to burst its way out of the prison you have made for it.” Norman Vincent Peale